Wireless communication system and method to improve coexistence for wake-up packets

ABSTRACT

A wireless communication system and method. The system includes processing circuitry, and a transceiver coupled to the processing circuitry. The processing circuitry includes logic to generate a wake-up packet addressed to another wireless communication system and including a legacy preamble portion and a wake-up portion, the legacy preamble portion modulated according to a first modulation rate. The wake-up portion is modulated according to a second modulation rate lower than the first modulation rate and includes information to wake-up the other wireless communication system. The transceiver system is to transmit the legacy preamble using a first transmit power level, and to transmit the wake-up portion using a second transmit power level higher than the first transmit power level by a predetermined amount such that an average received power of the wake-up portion is equal to an average received power of the legacy portion at the third-party station.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments relate to wireless communication in a low power setting.Some demonstrative embodiments relate to a construction of low-powerwake-up (LP-WU) packet for waking up a wireless local-area network(WLAN) device with low-power wake-up receiver (LP-WUR) within an IEEE802.11 network.

BACKGROUND

Low power wireless devices are enabling many wireless devices to bedeployed in wireless local-area network (WLAN). However, the low powerwireless devices are bandwidth constrained and power constrained, andyet may need to operate with both newer protocols and with legacystation protocols.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which likereferences indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a basic service set (BSS) including an access point(AP), two stations (STAs) each including Low-Power Wake-Up Receivers,and a legacy STA;

FIG. 2 illustrates a radio architecture for an AP from the BSS of FIG. 1in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates a Low Power Wake-Up (LP-WU) packet plus a legacypreamble in the time domain in accordance with some demonstrativeembodiments;

FIG. 4a shows an example of an LP-WU packet waveform in the time domainwithout power enhancement;

FIG. 4b shows a LP-WU packet waveform in the time domain with powerenhancement according to some demonstrative embodiments;

FIG. 5 illustrates a product of manufacture in accordance with somedemonstrative embodiments; and

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow-chart of a method according to somedemonstrative embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustratespecific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practicethem. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical,process, and other changes. Portions and features of some demonstrativeembodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of otherembodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all availableequivalents of those claims.

To reduce power consumption in a basic service set (BSS), the idea ofusing a low-power wake-up receiver (LP-WUR) in Wi-Fi devices has beendeveloped, and has been introduced into the Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 community in late 2015. Since thattime, LP-WUR has received much attention. Recently, a new Study Group(SG) named Wake-Up Receiver (WUR) SG was formed under IEEE 802.11 tostudy and begin standardization of the new wireless communicationprotocol as a new amendment to the 802.11 standard specification. TheWUR SG has been approved and is slated to be replaced by the 802.11TGbaTask Group. The WUR provides an ultra-low power solution (for exampleabout 100 μW in an active state) for an always on Wi-Fi or Bluetooth(BT) connectivity of wearable, Internet-of-Things (IoT) or otheremerging devices that may be densely deployed. Although 100 μW ismentioned here, it is merely an example of the power used in a listenstate. Embodiments encompass LP-WURs that use lower or high power, suchas, for example, a few hundred μW. Hereinafter, LP-WUR may be used torefer to the 802.11ba/LP-WUR wireless communication protocol, or toLP-WU functionality (that is, functionality in compliance with theLP-WUR wireless communication protocol), and the meaning of the acronymwill be clear from the context within which it is used.

To better understand the concept behind LP-WUR, we refer to FIG. 1,which depicts a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) BSS 100 including anAP 102, two LP-WUR compliant STAs 108 and 118, and a legacy STA 134. By“legacy,” what is meant herein is compliance with a standard that is notLP-WUR. The AP and STAs may, regardless of compliance with LP-WUR, useone of the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocols to transmit andreceive. The AP and STAs may use other communications protocols as wellas any of the IEEE 802.11 protocols. The IEEE 802.11 protocols mayinclude Wi-Fi protocols, for example, the IEEE 802.11ax protocol, the802.11ac protocol, the 802.11-2012 protocol, the 802.11n protocol, the802.11a protocol, the 802.11g protocol, and/or any other 802.11protocol. The IEEE 802.11 protocols may include using orthogonalfrequency division multiple-access (OFDMA), time division multipleaccess (TDMA), and/or code division multiple access (CDMA). The IEEE802.11 protocol may include space-division multiple access (SDMA) and/ormultiple-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO).

The AP and each of STA 108 and 118 is shown to that effect as includingan 802.11 radio system such as 802.11 radio system 104 of AP 102, 802.11radio system 110 of STA 108 and 802.11 radio system 120 of STA 118 (theradio system for legacy STA 134 has not been shown, although a personskilled in the art would readily understand that it would be present).Each radio system may include one or more baseband processors, one ormore radio integrated circuits, and one or more radio front end modulesas would be recognized by one skilled in the art. In addition, eachradio system may be coupled to one or more antennas. For example, radiosystem 104 may be coupled to antenna 106 to allow transmission andreception of radio signals by AP 102. Radio system 110 may be coupled toantenna 116 to allow transmission and reception of radio signals by STA108 and radio system 110 may be coupled to antenna 116 to allowtransmission and reception of radio signals by STA 108. Although eachradio system is shown in FIG. 1 as being coupled to one antenna, it isto be understood that embodiments apply to APs or STAs that include oneor more antennas coupled to the same radio system, and one or moreantennas coupled to various radio systems that are compliant withprotocols other than 802.11. Embodiments include within their scope theprovision of various components of a radio system on a single physicalintegrated circuit (or card), or on multiple integrated circuits aswould be recognizable by one skilled in the art.

Referring still to FIG. 1, STAs 108 and 118 each include a LP-WUR thatis coupled to their 802.11 radio systems 110. It is to be noted that,although FIG. 1 suggests the LP-WUR as potentially being physicallydistinct from the 802.11 radio system in each STA, embodiments includewithin their scope various levels of integration between the LP-WUR andthe 802.11 radio system. For example, the LP-WUR could include at leastone of a LP-WU baseband processor, a LP-WU radio integrated circuit(IC), and a LP-WU front-end module (FEM) that is integrated with arespective one of the non-LP-WU 802.11 baseband processor, radio IC andFEM.

With respect to AP 102, FIG. 1 does not show a LP-WUR that is coupled tothe 802.11 radio system. This is not to suggest that AP may not includea LP-WUR, but merely that, with respect to the operations to bedescribed further below with respect to BSS 100 of FIG. 1, the presenceof a LP-WUR as part of AP 102 would not be relevant, because no LP-WUpackets would be sent to AP 102 during those operations to be described,but would rather be sent by AP 102 to an LP-WUR of another STA, forexample, either STA 108 or STA 118. The above having been said, the802.11 radio system of AP 102, in the shown embodiment, would have LP-WUfunctionality in that it would be configured to send LP-WU packets toother LP-WUR compliant STAs. Further details regarding an embodiment foran AP or a STA that can provide LP-WU functionality will be providedwith respect to FIG. 3 below.

Referring still to FIG. 1, AP 102 is shown as having sent a LP-WU packet128 addressed to STA 108. The LP-WU packet 128 includes a preambleportion 130, and a wake-up portion 132. Details regarding the packetstructure for LP-WU packet 128 will be provided with respect to FIG. 2below. A purpose of LP-WU packet 128 is to alert a LP-WUR to wake up itsmain radio system, such as, for example, an 802.11ax, 802.11ac,802.11-2012, 802.11n or other radio system that operates at a higherpower level and processes higher modulation rate symbols than thatapplicable to the LP-WUR and that can receive and process user datapackets. For example, packet 128 as sent by AP 102 may be addressed toLP-WUR 112 of STA 108 or to LP-WUR 122 of STA 118 (or potentially both)to signal to either or both LP-WUR to wake up its/their associated main802.11 radio system so that the main radio system can subsequentlyreceive user data packets sent by AP 102, and specifically sent by radiosystem 104 of AP 102. The main radio system is in this way to remain inthe off state to conserve power, while the LP-WUR is to remain in an onstate to receive LP-WU packets. A signaling between the LP-WUR and itsassociated main radio system is depicted in FIG. 1 by way of a signalconnection 114 and 124 corresponding respectively to a connectionbetween LP-WUR 112 and radio system 110 on the one hand, and betweenLP-WUR 122 and radio system 120 on the other hand. The connection mayfor example be wired or wireless, and is to allow a wake-up signal to besent from the LP-WUR to its main radio system to wake up the main radiosystem for reception of data packets.

It is to be appreciated that LP-WUR may be configured as a simplereceiver without including a transmitter, and further without thecapability of processing user data packets per se. It may remainon/active as long as the main radio system is off, and may be inactivewhen the main radio system is on/active. LP-WU packets may be generatedby an AP using a simple modulation scheme such as an On-Off-Keying (OOK)modulation scheme, and a narrow bandwidth such as, for example, abandwidth of less than about 5 MHz, for example, about 4.06 MHz or about2.031 MHz. A target transmission range of a LP-WU packet may be similarto a transmission range for today's 802.11 compliant transmitters, thatis, up to a few hundred meters, such as, for example, up to about 250 mto 300 m, or more.

A concept for LP-WUR has been contemplated which is based on the802.11a/g/n/ac specification which uses a 4 μsec (3.2 μsec+Cyclic Prefix(CP)) Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) duration. In atime-domain, the above would provide a symbol duration of 3.2 μsec(taking the Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) as 64/20 MHze6).Taking into consideration the legacy preambles using a fixed 0.8 μsecguard band or cyclic prefix extension, the total symbol duration becomes4 μsec. A LP-WU signal, such as a wake-up portion of a LP-WU packet, mayhave a pulse bandwidth of 2.03 MHz or 4.06 MHz; a frequency spacingbetween tones in the wake-up portion of 78.125 kHz or 312.5 kHz; and thewake-up portion may include 26 tones or 13 tones per symbol, with anycombination of the above pulse bandwidths, frequency spacing betweentones and number of tones per symbol being possible.

LP-WUR further contemplates using 13 subcarriers (4.06 MHz) per symbol.For example, a LP-WU signal waveform may have 1 bit per symbol period,with each symbol period being about 4 μsec, achieving a rate of about250 kbps.

Referring next to FIG. 2, a LP-WU packet 200 according to an exemplaryembodiment is shown along with the legacy preamble portion 206 and aLP-WU payload 208. LP-WU packet 200 may, for example, correspond to theLP-WU packet 128 of FIG. 1, legacy preamble portion 206 in FIG. 2 maycorrespond to legacy preamble portion 130 of FIG. 1, and LP-WU payload208 of FIG. 2 may correspond to wake-up portion 132 of FIG. 1. Thelegacy preamble portion 206 may be transmitted on a channel bandwidth incompliance with the protocol used by the main radio system of the APsending the LP-WU packet, such as with 802.11ax, and the payload 208 maybe transmitted on a 2.03125 MHz, 4.0625 MHz, or 8.28125 MHz channel incompliance with LP-WU. Legacy preamble portion 206 may include a legacyshort-training field (L-STF) 202, a legacy long training field (L-LTF)204, and a legacy signal (L-SIG) field 205. In some demonstrativeembodiments, a LP-WUR may ignore the legacy preamble 206. A purpose ofthe legacy preamble 206 would be to allow third-party 802.11 STAs todetect the beginning of the LP-WU packet through L-STF 202, and the endof the same through information within L-SIG 205. Thus, a third-party802.11 STA, having received the legacy preamble 206, would know to setits Network Allocation Vector (NAV) and to refrain from transmittinguntil the end of the LP-WU packet. The L-SIG may convey informationregarding a length of the LP-WU payload 308. In this way, a LP-WU packetwould have a structure that would allow coexistence with third-partySTAs.

Referring still to FIG. 2, LP-WU payload 208 may include a wake-uppreamble 210, a MAC header 212, a frame body 214, and a frame checksequence field (FCS) 216 for error correction. The LP-WU payload mayinclude information in a field, such as in the MAC header 212 or in theframe body 214, regarding an identifier/address for the STA for whichthe LP-WU packet is destined.

In some demonstrative embodiments, LP-WU payload 208 may use a differentmodulation as compared with the modulation of the preamble, for example,a lower modulation. For example, LP-WU payload 208 may be modulatedusing OOK modulation, the wake-up portion including a series of 1's and0's, while the legacy preamble may be OFDM modulated using binary phaseshift keying (BPSK), although embodiments are not so limited.

The wake-up preamble 210 may include a sequence of wake-up pulses, andmay be generated by OOK modulation of a pattern including the series of1's and 0's (e.g., [1 1 0 . . . 1 0]). According to an exemplaryembodiment, the MAC header 212 may be a header that includes a sourceaddress or identifier for the source generating the pulse (for example,AP 102 of FIG. 1), or a destination address or identifier for the STA towhich the LP-WU packet is destined or both (for example STA 108 of FIG.1). In the alternative, the frame body or LP-WU payload 208 may be thebody of the frame that includes one or more of the above identifiers.The identifier may be an identifier of one or more LP-WURs within STA(s)to which the LP-WU packet may be addressed. The FCS 215 may includeinformation for a LP-WUR to check the integrity of the payload 208.

As noted previously, packet 200 may be used to cause a wake-up of themain radio system, such as an 802.11ax radio, such that this main radiosystem could, after waking up, demodulate subsequent OFDMA signals fromthe transmitter that sent the multiplexed OFDMA signal including the OOKLP-WU signal, and/or from other transmitters.

Considering now FIG. 1 in conjunction with FIG. 2, LP-WU packet 128 maybe addressed to STA 108 to wake up main radio system 110 through LP-WUR112. The legacy preamble portion 130 of the LP-WU packet 128 may be usedby STA 118 and by STA 134, in this example third-party STAs, to settheir respective NAVs, in part through information regarding the lengthof wake-up portion 132 provided in the L-SIG of preamble 130,corresponding for example to L-SIG 205 of FIG. 2. However, althoughlegacy preamble 130 may allow coexistence between AP 102 and STAs 118and 134, the above-described mechanism would work only if thethird-party STAs 118 and 134 are on/active to receive the legacypreamble 130. For example, if the main radio system 120 of third-partySTA 118 is off, which it very well could be, it could miss the legacypreamble 130 entirely, and wake-up only thereafter in order to transmitsignals. In such instances, in 802.11 Wi-Fi protocols such as 802.11ax,802.11ac, 802.11-2012, 802.11n and others, the third-party STA 118 or134 would rely on energy detection in order to determine whether ameasured power over a predetermined time period is above an energydetection threshold defined for the main radio system. In the case of an802.11 compliant Wi-Fi radio system, this energy level may be defined as−62 dBm. However, if the LP-WU packet is modulated using OOK, and aratio of transmitted “1's” (corresponding to energy being transmitted onthe wireless medium) and “0's” (corresponding to silence periods or noenergy transmitted on the wireless medium) of the wake-up packet will beapproximately 1, an average power of the LP-WU packet after the legacypreamble 130 as measured by third-party STA 118 or 134 would be about 3dB lower than that of an 802.11 Wi-Fi packet. For example, if a receivedpower of the 1's in the OOK modulated wake-up portion 132 is −61 dBm,the average received power would become −3 dBm lower, that is, −64 dBm.In such a case, a third-party 802.11 Wi-Fi STA, such as STA 118 or STA134, using an energy detection threshold of −62 dBm may not detect thepresence of the OOK modulated wake-up portion 132, having already missedthe legacy preamble portion 130. In such a case, third-party STA 118 or134 may initiate a Wi-Fi packet transmission before the end of the LP-WUpacket transmission, which may cause a collision with the LP-WU packet.

According to some demonstrative embodiments, a transmit power of apayload portion of a wake-up packet may be set to be higher than atransmit power of a legacy portion of the wake-up packet by apredetermined amount, such that an average received power of the payloadportion at a third-party station is equal to an average received powerof the legacy portion of the wake-up packet at the third-party station.In the above example, according to some demonstrative embodiments, wherethe wake-up packet is a LP-WU packet, a transmit power of the OOKmodulated wake-up portion of the LP-WU packet may be raised with respectto transmit power of the legacy preamble such that, at the third-partySTAs, the average received power of the OOK modulated wake-up portion isequal to the average received power of the legacy preamble at thethird-party STAs. Recall that, if the wake-up portion is an OOKmodulated payload, the transmit power associated with the 1's duringtransmission would be averaged when received by virtue of the presenceof the 0's, which explains in part why raising the transmit power on theOOK signal with respect to the transmit power of the OFDM legacypreamble could still result in equal average received powers for bothsignals. The average received power of the legacy preamble, equal to anenergy detection threshold of a main radio system of a third-party STA,may, in the case of an 802.11 Wi-Fi third-party, be equal to −62 dBm. Insuch a case, the transmit power of the OOK modulated payload portion maybe raised, according to one embodiment, by at least 3 dB with respect tothe transmit power of the legacy preamble, which would result, at thethird party STAs, in an average received power for both the legacypreamble and the wake-up portion of −62 dBm. According to somedemonstrative embodiments, the transmit power may be boosted based onthe ratio of 1's and 0's of the OOK modulated wake-up packet. Forexample, if the ratio is 1, then the boost may be 3 dB, if the ratio is1/2 then the boost may be 4.7 dB, and if the ratio is 1/3 then the boostmay be 6 dB, etc.

Advantageously, according to the above mechanism, even if a third-partySTA is to miss the legacy preamble portion of a wake-up payload, andwake up only thereafter, it could use its energy detection thresholdmechanism to detect the presence of the wake-up payload and set its NAVaccordingly to avoid the possibility of collisions, thus improvingsystem performance.

Referring back to FIG. 1, STAs 108, 118 and 134 may include wirelesstransmit and receive devices such as cellular telephones, smarttelephones, handheld wireless devices, wireless glasses, wirelesswatches, wireless personal devices, tablets, or other devices that maybe transmitting and receiving using the any of the IEEE 802.11 protocolssuch as IEEE 802.11ax or another wireless communication protocol. Insome demonstrative embodiments, STAs 108, 118 and/or 134 may becompliant with the 802.11ax communication protocol, and may be termedhigh efficiency (HE) stations. An 802.11ax or High Efficiency Wi-Fi(HEW) signal may be communicated on a subchannel that may have abandwidth of 20 MHz, 40 MHz, or 80 MHz, 160 MHz, or 320 MHz contiguousbandwidths or an 80+80 MHz (160 MHz) non-contiguous bandwidth. In somedemonstrative embodiments, the bandwidth of a HEW subchannel may be2.03125 MHz, 4.0625 MHz, 8.28125 MHz, a combination thereof, or anotherbandwidth that is less or equal to the available bandwidth may also beused. The subchannel may include a number of tones or tones, such as 26,and these tones may include a combination of data tones and other tones.The other tones may include DC nulls, guard intervals, or may be usedfor any purpose other than carrying data.

A HEW packet may be configured for transmitting a number of spatialstreams, which may be in accordance with MU-MIMO. In other embodiments,the AP and STAs in FIG. 1 may also implement different technologies suchas code division multiple access (CDMA) 2000, CDMA 2000 1×, CDMA 2000Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000),Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Long TermEvolution (LTE), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), EnhancedData rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), IEEE 802.16(i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)),Bluetooth®, or other technologies.

In some demonstrative embodiments, STA 108, 118 and/or 134 may includeInternet-of-Things (IoT) devices that operate in accordance with IEEE802.11ax or another wireless communication protocol of 802.11. The IoTdevices may operate on a smaller sub-channel than the 802.11ax devices.For example, the IoT devices may operate on 2.03125 MHz, 4.0625 MHz, or8.28125 MHz channels/subchannels. The IoT devices may be sensorsdesigned to measure one or more specific parameters of interest such astemperature sensor, humidity, or location-specific sensors. IoT devicesmay be connected to a sensor hub (not illustrated), and may upload datato the sensor hub. The sensor hub may upload the data to an accessgateway (not illustrated) that may connect several sensor hubs to acloud sever. The AP may act as the access gateway in accordance withsome demonstrative embodiments. The AP may act as the sensor hub inaccordance with some demonstrative embodiments. In some otherdemonstrative embodiments, the IoT devices may need to consume very lowaverage power in order to perform a packet exchange with the AP.

The AP may transmit a LP-WU packet to various ones of the stations thathave LP-WUR functionality. A LP-WUR included in a STA, such as LP-WUR112 or 122, may operate on a sub-channel smaller than the operatingrange of the AP. Stations that are not a recipient of the LP-WU packetshould refrain from communicating, based on the legacy preamble portion130 of the LP-WU packet as noted previously.

In accordance with some demonstrative embodiments, with the assumptionthat the LP-WU packet 128 is addressed to STA 108, LP-WUR 112 of STA 108may receive the LP-WU packet 128, decode it, and consequently wake upthe main radio system of STA 108, which then may contend for thewireless medium with STA 118 and STA 134. In some demonstrativeembodiments, after the main radio system of STA 108 is woken up, it maycommunicate with the AP in accordance with a non-contention based accesstechnique after being woken up and obtaining the UL transmitconfiguration from a trigger packet which may indicate an uplink (UL)UL-MU-MIMO and/or UL OFDMA control period.

In some demonstrative embodiments, a multiple-access technique usedduring a HEW control period may be a scheduled OFDMA technique, althoughthis is not a requirement. In some demonstrative embodiments, themultiple access technique may be a time-division multiple access (TDMA)technique or a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) technique. Insome demonstrative embodiments, the multiple access technique may be aspace-division multiple access (SDMA) technique.

As used in this disclosure, “tone” and “subcarrier” are usedinterchangeably. Moreover, when “at least one of” a given set or list ofitems connected with “and” is mentioned herein, what is meant is areference to either one of the noted items, or any combination of theitems. For example, as used herein, “at least one of A, B and C” means“A, or B, or C, or A and B, or A and C, or B and C, or A and B and C.”

Reference will now be made to FIG. 3, which depicts one embodiment of awireless communication apparatus 300 such as the AP 102 of FIG. 1. Thewireless communication apparatus 300 may include a wirelesscommunication system such as radio system 302 (which may correspond toradio system 104 of FIG. 1). Radio system 302 may include radiofront-end module (FEM) circuitry 304, radio integrated circuit (radioIC) 306 and baseband processor 308. The radio IC 306 and basebandprocessor 308 may be positioned on the same integrated circuit card (IC)312, although embodiments are not so limited. The radio IC 306 and FEMcircuitry 304 may together be referred to as a transceiver system 307,and it is to be understood that radio IC 306 and FEM circuitry 304 may,in one embodiment, have their functionality integrated, althoughembodiments are not so limited. The wireless communication apparatus 300as shown includes both Wi-Fi functionality and LP-WU functionality,although embodiments are not so limited. LP-WUR/LP-WU may refer toMedium Access Control Layer and Physical Layer specifications inaccordance with efforts within the Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE)'s regarding a LP-WUR standard/802.11bastandard. In the shown instance of a wireless communication apparatus300 including an AP, the LP-WU functionality may not necessarily includefunctionality necessary to receive and decode LP-WU packets to wake up amain radio system in the AP, but would include the ability of the radiosystem to transmit LP-WU packets addressed to one or more STAs to wakeup respective main radio systems within those STAs.

In FIG. 3, it is further to be noted that the representation of a singleantenna may be interpreted to mean one or more antennas. Furthermore,although FIG. 3 shows a single radio IC block 306, a single FEMcircuitry block 304 and a single baseband circuitry block 308, whereeach of the above blocks could include both Wi-Fi and LP-WUfunctionality, these blocks are to be viewed as representing thepossibility of one or more circuitry blocks, where potentially one setof distinct circuitry blocks, for example, a distinct FEM circuitry, adistinct radio IC, and/or a distinct LP-WU baseband circuitry would workto provide the noted LP-WU functionality. In the alternative, suchfunctionality could be integrated either in part or in whole within theWi-Fi circuitry. In a further alternative, components providing LP-WUfunctionality could be provided, according to some demonstrativeembodiments, within circuitry blocks positioned off of the IC 312 orradio system 302, for example adjacent the application processor 311.Also, as used herein, “processing circuitry” or “processor” may includeone or more distinctly identifiable processor blocks.

FEM circuitry 304 may include both Wi-Fi functionality (which wouldallow the processing of Wi-Fi signals) and LP-WU functionality (which,in the case of the FEM, would mean at least the ability to transmitLP-WU packets). The FEM circuitry 304 may include a receive signal pathcomprising circuitry configured to operate on Wi-Fi signals receivedfrom one or more antennas 301, to amplify the received signals and toprovide the amplified versions of the received signals to the radio IC306 for further processing. The FEM may further include a receive signalpath comprising circuitry configured to operate on LP-WU signalsreceived from one or more antennas 301, to amplify the received signalsand to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to theradio IC 306 for further processing. FEM circuitry 304 may also includea transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplifyWi-Fi signals provided by the radio IC 306 for wireless transmission byone or more of the antennas 301. FEM circuitry 304 may also include atransmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplifyLP-WU signals provided by the radio IC 306 for wireless transmission byone or more of the antennas 301. In the case of the wirelesscommunication apparatus 300 being an AP, the transmit signal path wouldinclude LP-WU functionality to transmit LP-WU packets. The antennas mayinclude directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example,dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas,microstrip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmissionof RF signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated to take advantageof spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that mayresult.

Radio IC 306 may include both Wi-Fi and LP-WU functionality, and mayinclude therein a distinct LP-WU radio to process LP-WU signals. In thecase of an AP, the radio IC 306 would be adapted to at least processLP-WU signals for transmission, and may optionally also be adapted toprocess LP-WU signals that are received, although embodiments are not solimited. Radio IC 306 as shown may include a receive signal path whichmay include circuitry to down-convert Wi-Fi signals, and optionallyLP-WU signals, received from the FEM circuitry 304 and provide basebandsignals to baseband processor 308. The radio IC 306 may also include atransmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert basebandsignals provided by the baseband processor 308 and provide RF outputsignals to the FEM circuitry 304 for subsequent wireless transmission bythe one or more antennas 301. In any event, the radio IC 306 would, withrespect to transmission, provide at a minimum the ability to up-convertboth Wi-Fi and LP-WU baseband signals and provide corresponding RFoutput signals to the FEM circuitry 304 for transmission.

Baseband processing circuity 308 may include processing circuitry thatprovides Wi-Fi functionality (hereinafter, main baseband processor), andprocessing circuitry that provides at least transmit LP-WU functionality(hereinafter low-power baseband processor). In the instant description,the baseband processing circuitry 308 may include a memory 309, such as,for example, a set of RAM arrays in a Fast Fourier Transform or InverseFast Fourier Transform block (not shown) of the baseband processor 308.Processing circuitry 310 may include control logic to process thesignals received from the receive signal path of the radio IC 306, suchas Wi-Fi signals, and, optionally, LP-WU signals. Baseband processingcircuitry 308 is also configured to also generate corresponding basebandsignals for the transmit signal path of the radio IC 306, and mayfurther include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer(MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with application processor311 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and forcontrolling operations of the radio IC 306. Baseband processingcircuitry 308 may be adapted to generate and as a result causetransmission of both Wi-Fi and LP-WU signals, such as the generation ofLP-WU packets similar to packet 200 of FIG. 2.

In some demonstrative embodiments, the front-end module circuitry 304,the radio IC 306, and baseband processor 308 may be provided on a singleradio card, such as radio system 302. In some other embodiments, the oneor more antennas 301, the FEM circuitry 304 and the radio IC 306 may beprovided on a single radio card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC306 and the baseband processor 308 may be provided on a single chip orintegrated circuit (IC), such as IC 312.

In some demonstrative embodiments, the wireless communication apparatus300 of FIG. 3 may include a Wi-Fi radio system and may be configured forWi-Fi communications, although the scope of the embodiments is notlimited in this respect. In some of these embodiments, the wirelesscommunication apparatus 300 may be configured to receive and transmitOFDM or OFDMA communication signals over a multicarrier communicationchannel.

In some other embodiments, the wireless communication apparatus 300 maybe configured to transmit and receive signals transmitted using one ormore modulation techniques other than OFDM or OFDMA, such as spreadspectrum modulation (e.g., direct sequence code division multiple access(DS-CDMA) and/or frequency hopping code division multiple access(FH-CDMA)), time-division multiplexing (TDM) modulation, and/orfrequency-division multiplexing (FDM) modulation, and On-Off Keying(OOK), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in thisrespect.

In some demonstrative embodiments, the wireless communication apparatus300 may include other radio systems, such as a cellular radio system 316configured for cellular (e.g., 3GPP such as LTE, LTE-Advanced or 5Gcommunications).

In some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, the wireless communication apparatus300 may be configured for communication over various channel bandwidthsincluding bandwidths having center frequencies of 900 MHz, 2.03125 MHz,2.4 GHz, 4.0625 MHz, 5 GHz, 8.28125 MHz and bandwidths of less than 5MHz, or of about 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 16MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz (with contiguous bandwidths) or 80+80 MHz(160 MHz) (with non-contiguous bandwidths), or any combination of theabove frequencies or bandwidths, or any frequencies or bandwidthsbetween the ones expressly noted above. In some demonstrativeembodiments, a 320 MHz channel bandwidth may be used. The scope of theembodiments is not limited with respect to the above center frequencieshowever.

Referring still to FIG. 3, in some demonstrative embodiments, wirelesscommunication apparatus 300 may further include an input unit 318, anoutput unit 319, a memory unit 315. Wireless communication apparatus 300may optionally include other suitable hardware components and/orsoftware components. In some demonstrative embodiments, some or all ofthe components of wireless communication apparatus 300 may be enclosedin a common housing or packaging, and may be interconnected or operablyassociated using one or more wired or wireless links. In otherembodiments, components of wireless communication apparatus 300 may bedistributed among multiple or separate devices.

In some demonstrative embodiments, application processor 311 mayinclude, for example, a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Digital SignalProcessor (DSP), one or more processor cores, a single-core processor, adual-core processor, a multiple-core processor, a microprocessor, a hostprocessor, a controller, a plurality of processors or controllers, achip, a microchip, one or more circuits, circuitry, a logic unit, anIntegrated Circuit (IC), an Application-Specific IC (ASIC), or any othersuitable multi-purpose or specific processor or controller. Applicationprocessor 311 may execute instructions, for example, of an OperatingSystem (OS) of wireless communication apparatus 300 and/or of one ormore suitable applications.

In some demonstrative embodiments, input unit 318 may include, forexample, one or more input pins on a circuit board, a keyboard, akeypad, a mouse, a touch-screen, a touch-pad, a track-ball, a stylus, amicrophone, or other suitable pointing device or input device. Outputunit 319 may include, for example, one or more output pins on a circuitboard, a monitor, a screen, a touch-screen, a flat panel display, aLight Emitting Diode (LED) display unit, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)display unit, a plasma display unit, one or more audio speakers orearphones, or other suitable output devices.

In some demonstrative embodiments, memory 315 may include, for example,a Random-Access Memory (RAM), a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Dynamic RAM(DRAM), a Synchronous DRAM (SD-RAM), a flash memory, a volatile memory,a non-volatile memory, a cache memory, a buffer, a short-term memoryunit, a long-term memory unit, or other suitable memory units.

Storage unit 317 may include, for example, a hard disk drive, a floppydisk drive, a Compact Disk (CD) drive, a CD-ROM drive, a DVD drive, orother suitable removable or non-removable storage units. Memory unit 315and/or storage unit 317, for example, may store data processed bywireless communication apparatus 300.

Referring still to the demonstrative embodiment of FIG. 3, circuitry mayexist within FEM 304, within radio IC 306 and within baseband processingcircuitry 308 that provide LP-WU functionality, such as LP-WU transmitonly functionality, or LP-WU transmit and receive functionality.According to some other embodiments, the apparatus 300 shown in FIG. 3may have more than one FEM or radio IC or baseband circuitry to providethe Wi-Fi plus LP-WU functionality.

According to some demonstrative embodiments, a wireless communicationsystem, such as a radio system of an AP, may comprise a memory,processing circuitry coupled to the memory, and a transceiver system.The processing circuitry may include logic to generate a wake-up packetaddressed to another wireless communication system, the wake-up packetincluding a legacy preamble portion and a wake-up portion, wherein: thelegacy preamble portion is modulated according to a first modulationrate and includes information to allow a third-party station to refrainfrom transmitting during a length of the wake-up packet; and the wake-upportion is modulated according to a second modulation rate lower thanthe first modulation rate and includes information to wake-up a radiosystem of the other wireless communication system. The transceiversystem may be configured to transmit the legacy preamble using a firsttransmit power level, and to transmit the wake-up portion using a secondtransmit power level higher than the first transmit power level by apredetermined amount such that an average received power of the wake-upportion is equal to an average received power of the legacy portion atthe third-party station. For example, the predetermined amount is 3 dB,and the average received power of the wake-up portion and of the legacyportion at the third-party station is −62 dBm.

The wireless device packet would be configured to generate the wake-uppacket such that the legacy preamble portion includes a legacy shorttraining field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF) and alegacy signal field (L-SIG), the L-SIG including length information forthe wake-up packet. The legacy preamble may be modulated using binaryphase shift keying (BPS K), and the wake-up portion may be modulatedusing On-Off-Keying (OOK). The wake-up portion may include a wake-uppreamble, a medium access control (MAC) header including an address ofthe other wireless device, a frame body and a frame check sequence (FCS)including cyclic redundancy check (CRC) information.

Reference will now be made to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 in order to describesome demonstrative embodiments, although it is to be noted thatembodiments are not limited to what is described below and shown withrespect to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, or any of the other figures includedherein.

According to some demonstrative embodiments, a wireless communicationsystem, such as wireless communication system 300 of FIG. 3, for exampleone that corresponds to radio system 302 within AP 102 of FIG. 1, maycomprise a memory 309, processing circuitry 310 coupled to the memory309, and a transceiver system, such as transceiver system 307 of FIG. 3,coupled to the processing circuitry 309. The processing circuitry 210may include logic to generate a wake-up packet, such as, for example, anLP-WU packet 200 of FIG. 2 addressed to another wireless communicationsystem, such as for example STA 108 of FIG. 1. The wake-up packet, forexample LP-WU packet 200 of FIG. 2, may include a legacy preambleportion such as preamble portion 206 of FIG. 2, and a wake-up portion,such as wake-up portion 208 of FIG. 2. The legacy preamble portion maybe modulated according to a first modulation rate, such as, for example,BPSK, and may include information to allow a third-party station torefrain from transmitting during a length of the wake-up packet, forexample to allow a third-party station to set its NAV. The wake-upportion may be modulated according to a second modulation rate lowerthan the first modulation rate, such as OOK, and may include informationto wake-up a radio system of the other wireless communication system,such as main radio system 110 of STA 108 in FIG. 1. The transceiversystem 307 within the wireless communication apparatus 300 of FIG. 3,corresponding for example to AP 102 of FIG. 1, may transmit the legacypreamble using a first transmit power level, and transmit the wake-upportion using a second transmit power level higher than the firsttransmit power level by a predetermined amount. The predetermined amountwould be such that an average received power of the wake-up portion at areceiver is equal to an average received power of the legacy portion atthe third-party station. For example, the predetermined amount may be 3dB, such that the average received power of the wake-up portion and ofthe legacy portion at the third-party station is −62 dBm, althoughembodiments are not so limited.

Referring next to FIGS. 4a and 4b , these figures show transmit powerplotted in the time domain for a wake-up packet generated not usingpower enhancement according to some demonstrative embodiments (FIG. 4a), and a wake-up packet using a 3 dB power enhancement according todemonstrative embodiments (FIG. 4b ). FIGS. 4a and 4b each show transmitpower for the legacy preamble portions 406 a (FIG. 4a ) and 406 b (FIG.4b ), a wake-up preamble 410 a (FIG. 4a ) and 410 b (FIG. 4b ), and aLP-WU payload 417 a (FIG. 4a ) and 417 b (FIG. 4b ), each of thepayloads including a MAC header, a frame body and a FCS. The wake-uppacket of FIGS. 4a and 4b may have a structure similar for example tothe structure of LP-WU payload 128 of FIG. 1, or of the LP-WU payload300 of FIG. 3.

Referring still to FIGS. 4a and 4b , the legacy preamble portions 406 aand 406 b show consistent transmit power over time, resulting in anaverage receive power at the receiver side of about −62 dBm, while, theLP-WU payload portions 417 a and 417 b, by virtue of their OOKmodulation, show intermittent periods of transmit power presence andabsence, resulting in a lower average transmit power at the receiverside than if the transmit power were consistent through time. Forexample, in FIG. 4a , if a received power of the LP-WU payload part,which may be OOK modulated, is −61 dBm, the average received power wouldbe −64 dBm, and a third-party STA using the energy detection thresholdof −62 dBm may not be able to detect the presence of the wake-up packeton the wireless medium and initiate a packet transmission before the endof the wake-up packet transmission. However, as seen in FIG. 4b , atransceiver system, such transceiver system 307 of FIG. 3, may set atransmit power of the legacy 802.11 preamble 406 b for example at apower level P_(tx) _(_) _(legacy) _(_) _(preamble), and transmit thelegacy 802.11 preamble 406 b using this power level. At the end of thelegacy 802.11 preamble 406 b, however, the transceiver system 307, forexample through FEM circuitry 304, may increase the transmit power forthe LP-WU payload 417 b, to a new transmit power level P_(tx) _(_)_(OOK)=P_(tx) _(_) _(legacy) _(_) _(preamble)+3 dB and transmit payload417 b at this second transmit power level, as shown in FIG. 4 b.

FIG. 5 illustrates a product of manufacture 500, in accordance with somedemonstrative embodiments. Product 500 may include one or more tangiblecomputer-readable non-transitory storage media 502, which may includecomputer-executable instructions, e.g., implemented by logic 504,operable to, when executed by at least one computer processor, enablethe at least one computer processor to implement one or more operationsat an AP, and/or to perform one or more operations described above withrespect to FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4, and/or one or more operations describedherein. The phrase “non-transitory machine-readable medium” is directedto include all computer-readable media, with the sole exception being atransitory propagating signal.

In some demonstrative embodiments, product 500 and/or storage media 502may include one or more types of computer-readable storage media capableof storing data, including volatile memory, non-volatile memory,removable or non-removable memory, erasable or non-erasable memory,writeable or re-writeable memory, and the like. For example, storagemedia 502 may include, RAM, DRAM, Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDR-DRAM),SDRAM, static RAM (SRAM), ROM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasableprogrammable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM(EEPROM), Compact Disk ROM (CD-ROM), Compact Disk Recordable (CD-R),Compact Disk Rewriteable (CD-RW), flash memory (e.g., NOR or NAND flashmemory), content addressable memory (CAM), polymer memory, phase-changememory, ferroelectric memory, silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon(SONOS) memory, a disk, a floppy disk, a hard drive, an optical disk, amagnetic disk, a card, a magnetic card, an optical card, a tape, acassette, and the like. The computer-readable storage media may includeany suitable media involved with downloading or transferring a computerprogram from a remote computer to a requesting computer carried by datasignals embodied in a carrier wave or other propagation medium through acommunication link, e.g., a modem, radio or network connection.

In some demonstrative embodiments, logic 504 may include instructions,data, and/or code, which, if executed by a machine, may cause themachine to perform a method, process and/or operations as describedherein. The machine may include, for example, any suitable processingplatform, computing platform, computing device, processing device,computing system, processing system, computer, processor, or the like,and may be implemented using any suitable combination of hardware,software, firmware, and the like.

In some demonstrative embodiments, logic 504 may include, or may beimplemented as, software, a software module, an application, a program,a subroutine, instructions, an instruction set, computing code, words,values, symbols, and the like. The instructions may include any suitabletype of code, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code,executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Theinstructions may be implemented according to a predefined computerlanguage, manner or syntax, for instructing a processor to perform acertain function. The instructions may be implemented using any suitablehigh-level, low-level, object-oriented, visual, compiled and/orinterpreted programming language, such as C, C++, Java, BASIC, Matlab,Pascal, Visual BASIC, assembly language, machine code, and the like.

FIG. 6 illustrates a method 600 of using a wireless communication systemin accordance with some demonstrative embodiments. The method 600 maybegin with operation 602, which includes generating a wake-up packetaddressed to another wireless communication system, the wake-up packetincluding a legacy preamble portion and a wake-up portion, wherein thelegacy preamble portion is modulated according to a first modulationrate and includes information to allow a third-party station to refrainfrom transmitting during a length of the wake-up packet, and wherein thewake-up portion is modulated according to a second modulation rate lowerthan the first modulation rate and includes information to wake-up aradio system of the other wireless communication system. At operation604, the method includes causing transmission of the legacy preambleusing a first transmit power level. At operation 606, the method furtherincludes causing transmission of the wake-up portion using a secondtransmit power level higher than the first transmit power level by apredetermined amount such that an average received power of the wake-upportion is equal to an average received power of the legacy portion atthe third-party station.

Some demonstrative embodiments may be implemented fully or partially insoftware and/or firmware. This software and/or firmware may take theform of instructions contained in or on a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium. Those instructions may then be readand executed by one or more processors to enable performance of theoperations described herein. Those instructions may then be read andexecuted by one or more processors to cause the wireless communicationsystem of FIG. 3 to perform the methods and/or operations describedherein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but notlimited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executablecode, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Such a computer-readablemedium may include any tangible non-transitory medium for storinginformation in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but notlimited to read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magneticdisk storage media; optical storage media; a flash memory, etc.

EXAMPLES

The following examples pertain to further embodiments.

Example 1 includes a wireless communication system comprising processingcircuitry, and a transceiver system coupled to the processing circuitry,wherein: the processing circuitry includes logic to generate a wake-uppacket addressed to another wireless communication system, the wake-uppacket including a legacy preamble portion and a wake-up portion,wherein the legacy preamble portion is modulated according to a firstmodulation rate and includes information to allow a third-party stationto refrain from transmitting during a length of the wake-up packet, andwherein the wake-up portion is modulated according to a secondmodulation rate lower than the first modulation rate and includesinformation to wake-up a radio system of the other wirelesscommunication system; and the transceiver system to transmit the legacypreamble using a first transmit power level, and to transmit the wake-upportion using a second transmit power level higher than the firsttransmit power level by a predetermined amount such that an averagereceived power of the wake-up portion is equal to an average receivedpower of the legacy portion at the third-party station.

Example 2 includes the subject matter of Example 1, and optionally,wherein the legacy preamble portion includes a legacy short trainingfield (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF) and a legacy signalfield (L-SIG), the L-SIG including length information for the wake-uppacket.

Example 3 includes the subject matter of Example 1, and optionally,wherein the first modulation rate includes binary phase shift keying(BPSK).

Example 4 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-3, andoptionally, wherein the second modulation rate includes On-Off-Keying(OOK), the wake-up portion including a series of 1's and 0's.

Example 5 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-3, andoptionally, wherein the wake-up portion includes a wake-up preamble, amedium access control (MAC) header including an address of the otherwireless communication system, a frame body and a frame check sequence(FCS) including cyclic redundancy check (CRC) information.

Example 6 includes the subject matter of Example 4, and optionally,wherein the predetermined amount is based on a ratio of the number of1's to the number of 0's of the wake-up packet.

Example 7 includes the subject matter of Example 6, and optionally,wherein the predetermined amount is 4.7 dB if the ratio is equal to 1/2,and is 6 dB if the ratio is equal to 1/3.

Example 8 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-3, andoptionally, wherein the predetermined amount is 3 dB, and the averagereceived power of the wake-up portion and of the legacy portion at thethird-party station is −62 dBm.

Example 9 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-3, andoptionally, wherein: the wake-up portion has a pulse bandwidth of 2.03MHz or 4.06 MHz; a frequency spacing between tones in the wake-upportion is 78.125 kHz or 312.5 kHz; and the wake-up portion includes 26tones or 13 tones per symbol.

Example 10 includes the subject matter of Example 9, and optionally,wherein the wake-up portion has a symbol duration of 4 μsec.

Example 11 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-3, andoptionally, further including a baseband processor including the memoryand the processing circuitry, wherein the transceiver system includes aradio integrated circuit (radio IC) coupled to the baseband processor,and radio front end module circuitry coupled to the radio integratedcircuit.

Example 12 includes the subject matter of Example 11, and optionally,wherein the front-end module circuitry includes: a receive signal pathcomprising circuitry configured to amplify higher modulation signalsreceived from one or more antennas and to provide an amplified versionof the received higher modulation signals to the radio IC, the highermodulation signals being at a modulation rate equal to or greater thanthe first modulation rate; and a transmit signal path includingcircuitry configured to amplify higher modulation signals provided bythe radio IC for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas; atransmit signal path including circuitry configured to amplify signalsmodulated according to the second modulation rate provided by the radioIC for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas.

Example 13 includes the subject matter of Example 12, and optionally,wherein the higher modulation signals include Wi-Fi signals, and thesignals modulated according to the second modulation rate includesignals in conformance with an Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers 802.11ba wireless communication protocol.

Example 14 includes the subject matter of Example 12, and optionally,further including one or more antennas coupled to the front-end module.

Example 15 includes a product comprising one or more tangiblecomputer-readable non-transitory storage media comprisingcomputer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at leastone computer processor, enable the at least one computer processor toimplement operations at a wireless communication system, the operationscomprising: generating a wake-up packet addressed to another wirelesscommunication system, the wake-up packet including a legacy preambleportion and a wake-up portion, wherein the legacy preamble portion ismodulated according to a first modulation rate and includes informationto allow a third-party station to refrain from transmitting during alength of the wake-up packet, and wherein the wake-up portion ismodulated according to a second modulation rate lower than the firstmodulation rate and includes information to wake-up a radio system ofthe other wireless communication system; causing transmission of thelegacy preamble using a first transmit power level; and causingtransmission of the wake-up portion using a second transmit power levelhigher than the first transmit power level by a predetermined amountsuch that an average received power of the wake-up portion is equal toan average received power of the legacy portion at the third-partystation.

Example 16 includes the subject matter of Example 15, and optionally,wherein the legacy preamble portion includes a legacy short trainingfield (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF) and a legacy signalfield (L-SIG), the L-SIG including length information for the wake-uppacket.

Example 17 includes the subject matter of Example 15, and optionally,wherein the first modulation rate includes binary phase shift keying(BPSK).

Example 18 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 15-17,wherein the second modulation rate includes On-Off-Keying (OOK), thewake-up portion including a series of 1's and 0's.

Example 19 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 15-17,wherein the wake-up portion includes a wake-up preamble, a medium accesscontrol (MAC) header including an address of the other wirelesscommunication system, a frame body and a frame check sequence (FCS)including cyclic redundancy check (CRC) information.

Example 20 includes the subject matter of Example 18, and optionally,wherein the predetermined amount is based on a ratio of the number of1's to the number of 0's of the wake-up packet.

Example 21 includes the subject matter of Example 20, and optionally,wherein the predetermined amount is 4.7 dB if the ratio is equal to 1/2,and is 6 dB if the ratio is equal to 1/3.

Example 22 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 15-17,wherein the predetermined amount is 3 dB, and the average received powerof the wake-up portion and of the legacy portion at the third-partystation is −62 dBm.

Example 23 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 15-17,wherein: the wake-up portion has a pulse bandwidth of 2.03 MHz or 4.06MHz; a frequency spacing between tones in the wake-up portion is 78.125kHz or 312.5 kHz; and the wake-up portion includes 26 tones or 13 tonesper symbol.

Example 24 includes the subject matter of Example 23, and optionally,wherein the wake-up portion has a symbol duration of 4 μsec.

Example 25 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 15-17,wherein the operations further include: amplifying higher modulationsignals received from one or more antennas, the higher modulationsignals being at a modulation rate equal to or greater than the firstmodulation rate; providing an amplified version of the higher modulationsignals to a radio integrated circuit (radio IC) for further processing,and amplifying higher modulation signals provided by the radio IC forwireless transmission by the one or more antennas; amplifying signalsmodulated according to the second modulation rate and provided by theradio IC for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas.

Example 26 includes the subject matter of Example 25, and optionally,wherein the higher modulation signals include Wi-Fi signals, and thesignals modulated according to the second modulation rate includesignals in conformance with an Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers 802.11ba wireless communication protocol.

Example 27 includes a method to be performed by a wireless communicationsystem, the method comprising: generating a wake-up packet addressed toanother wireless communication system, the wake-up packet including alegacy preamble portion and a wake-up portion, wherein the legacypreamble portion is modulated according to a first modulation rate andincludes information to allow a third-party station to refrain fromtransmitting during a length of the wake-up packet, and wherein thewake-up portion is modulated according to a second modulation rate lowerthan the first modulation rate and includes information to wake-up aradio system of the other wireless communication system; causingtransmission of the legacy preamble using a first transmit power level;and causing transmission of the wake-up portion using a second transmitpower level higher than the first transmit power level by apredetermined amount such that an average received power of the wake-upportion is equal to an average received power of the legacy portion atthe third-party station.

Example 28 includes the subject matter of Example 27, and optionally,wherein the legacy preamble portion includes a legacy short trainingfield (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF) and a legacy signalfield (L-SIG), the L-SIG including length information for the wake-uppacket.

Example 29 includes the subject matter of Example 27, and optionally,wherein the first modulation rate includes binary phase shift keying(BPSK).

Example 30 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 27-29, andoptionally, wherein the second modulation rate includes On-Off-Keying(OOK), the wake-up portion including a series of 1's and 0's.

Example 31 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 27-29, andoptionally, wherein the wake-up portion includes a wake-up preamble, amedium access control (MAC) header including an address of the otherwireless communication system, a frame body and a frame check sequence(FCS) including cyclic redundancy check (CRC) information.

Example 32 includes the subject matter of Example 30, and optionally,wherein the predetermined amount is based on a ratio of the number of1's to the number of 0's of the wake-up packet.

Example 33 includes the subject matter of Example 32, and optionally,wherein the predetermined amount is 4.7 dB if the ratio is equal to 1/2,and is 6 dB if the ratio is equal to 1/3.

Example 34 includes the subject matter of Example 27, and optionally,wherein the predetermined amount is 3 dB, and the average received powerof the wake-up portion and of the legacy portion at the third-partystation is −62 dBm.

Example 35 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 27-29, andoptionally, wherein: the wake-up portion has a pulse bandwidth of 2.03MHz or 4.06 MHz; a frequency spacing between tones in the wake-upportion is 78.125 kHz or 312.5 kHz; and the wake-up portion includes 26tones or 13 tones per symbol.

Example 36 includes the subject matter of Example 35, and optionally,wherein the wake-up portion has a symbol duration of 4 μsec.

Example 37 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 27-29, andoptionally, further comprising: amplifying higher modulation signalsreceived from one or more antennas, the higher modulation signals beingat a modulation rate equal to or greater than the first modulation rate;providing an amplified version of the higher modulation signals to aradio integrated circuit (radio IC) for further processing, andamplifying higher modulation signals provided by the radio IC forwireless transmission by the one or more antennas; amplifying signalsmodulated according to the second modulation rate and provided by theradio IC for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas.

Example 38 includes the subject matter of Example 37, and optionally,wherein the higher modulation signals include Wi-Fi signals, and thesignals modulated according to the second modulation rate includesignals in conformance with an Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers 802.11ba wireless communication protocol.

Example 39 pertains to a wireless communication system including: meansfor generating a wake-up packet addressed to another wirelesscommunication system, the wake-up packet including a legacy preambleportion and a wake-up portion, wherein the legacy preamble portion ismodulated according to a first modulation rate and includes informationto allow a third-party station to refrain from transmitting during alength of the wake-up packet, and wherein the wake-up portion ismodulated according to a second modulation rate lower than the firstmodulation rate and includes information to wake-up a radio system ofthe other wireless communication system; means for causing transmissionof the legacy preamble using a first transmit power level; and means forcausing transmission of the wake-up portion using a second transmitpower level higher than the first transmit power level by apredetermined amount such that an average received power of the wake-upportion is equal to an average received power of the legacy portion atthe third-party station.

Example 40 includes the subject matter of Example 39, and optionally,wherein the legacy preamble portion includes a legacy short trainingfield (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF) and a legacy signalfield (L-SIG), the L-SIG including length information for the wake-uppacket.

Example 41 includes the subject matter of Example 39, and optionally,wherein the first modulation rate includes binary phase shift keying(BPSK).

Example 42 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 39-41, andoptionally, wherein the second modulation rate includes On-Off-Keying(OOK), the wake-up portion including a series of 1's and 0's.

Example 43 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 39-41, andoptionally, wherein the wake-up portion includes a wake-up preamble, amedium access control (MAC) header including an address of the otherwireless communication system, a frame body and a frame check sequence(FCS) including cyclic redundancy check (CRC) information.

Example 44 includes the subject matter of Example 42, and optionally,wherein the predetermined amount is based on a ratio of the number of1's to the number of 0's of the wake-up packet.

Example 45 includes the subject matter of Example 44, and optionally,wherein the predetermined amount is 4.7 dB if the ratio is equal to 1/2,and is 6 dB if the ratio is equal to 1/3.

Example 46 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 39-41, andoptionally, wherein the predetermined amount is 3 dB, and the averagereceived power of the wake-up portion and of the legacy portion at thethird-party station is −62 dBm.

Example 47 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 39-41, andoptionally, wherein: the wake-up portion has a pulse bandwidth of 2.03MHz or 4.06 MHz; a frequency spacing between tones in the wake-upportion is 78.125 kHz or 312.5 kHz; and the wake-up portion includes 26tones or 13 tones per symbol.

Example 48 includes the subject matter of Example 47, and optionally,wherein the wake-up portion has a symbol duration of 4 μsec.

Example 49 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 39-41, andoptionally, further comprising: means for amplifying higher modulationsignals received from one or more antennas, the higher modulationsignals being at a modulation rate equal to or greater than the firstmodulation rate; means for providing an amplified version of the highermodulation signals to a radio integrated circuit (radio IC); means foramplifying higher modulation signals provided by the radio IC forwireless transmission by the one or more antennas; means for amplifyingsignals modulated according to the second modulation rate and providedby the radio IC for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas.

Example 50 includes the subject matter of Example 49, and optionally,wherein the higher modulation signals include Wi-Fi signals, and thesignals modulated according to the second modulation rate includesignals in conformance with an Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers 802.11ba wireless communication protocol.

Example 51 includes a product comprising one or more tangiblecomputer-readable non-transitory storage media comprisingcomputer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at leastone computer processor, enable the at least one computer processor toperform the method of any one of the above Examples.

An Abstract is provided. It is submitted with the understanding that itwill not be used to limit or interpret the scope or meaning of theclaims. The following claims are hereby incorporated into the detaileddescription, with each claim standing on its own as a separateembodiment.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device comprising processing circuitry, and atransceiver system coupled to the processing circuitry, wherein: theprocessing circuitry includes logic to generate a wake-up packetaddressed to another device, the wake-up packet including a legacypreamble portion and a wake-up portion, wherein the legacy preambleportion is modulated according to a first modulation rate and includesinformation to allow a third-party station to refrain from transmittingduring a length of the wake-up packet, and wherein the wake-up portionis modulated according to a second modulation rate lower than the firstmodulation rate and includes information to wake-up a radio system ofthe other device; and the transceiver system to transmit the legacypreamble using a first transmit power level, and to transmit the wake-upportion using a second transmit power level higher than the firsttransmit power level by a predetermined amount such that an averagereceived power of the wake-up portion is equal to an average receivedpower of the legacy portion at the third-party station.
 2. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the legacy preamble portion includes a legacy shorttraining field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF) and alegacy signal field (L-SIG), the L-SIG including length information forthe wake-up packet.
 3. The device of claim 1, wherein the firstmodulation rate includes binary phase shift keying (BPSK).
 4. The deviceof claim 1, wherein the second modulation rate includes On-Off-Keying(OOK), the wake-up portion including a series of 1's and 0's.
 5. Thedevice of claim 4, wherein the predetermined amount is based on a ratioof the number of 1's to the number of 0's of the wake-up packet.
 6. Thedevice of claim 5, wherein the predetermined amount is 4.7 dB if theratio is equal to 1/2, and is 6 dB if the ratio is equal to 1/3.
 7. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the predetermined amount is 3 dB, and theaverage received power of the wake-up portion and of the legacy portionat the third-party station is −62 dBm.
 8. The device of claim 1,wherein: the wake-up portion has a pulse bandwidth of 2.03 MHz or 4.06MHz; a frequency spacing between tones in the wake-up portion is 78.125kHz or 312.5 kHz; the wake-up portion includes 26 tones or 13 tones persymbol; and the wake-up portion has a symbol duration of 4 μsec.
 9. Thedevice of claim 1, further including a baseband processor including thememory and the processing circuitry, wherein the transceiver systemincludes a radio integrated circuit (radio IC) coupled to the basebandprocessor, and radio front end module circuitry coupled to the radiointegrated circuit.
 10. The device of claim 9, wherein the front-endmodule circuitry includes: a receive signal path comprising circuitryconfigured to amplify higher modulation signals received from one ormore antennas and to provide an amplified version of the received highermodulation signals to the radio IC, the higher modulation signals beingat a modulation rate equal to or greater than the first modulation rate;and a transmit signal path including circuitry configured to amplifyhigher modulation signals provided by the radio IC for wirelesstransmission by the one or more antennas; a transmit signal pathincluding circuitry configured to amplify signals modulated according tothe second modulation rate provided by the radio IC for wirelesstransmission by the one or more antennas.
 11. The device of claim 10,further including one or more antennas coupled to the front-end module.12. A product comprising one or more tangible computer-readablenon-transitory storage media comprising computer-executable instructionsoperable to, when executed by at least one computer processor, enablethe at least one computer processor to implement operations at awireless communication system, the operations comprising: generating awake-up packet addressed to another wireless communication system, thewake-up packet including a legacy preamble portion and a wake-upportion, wherein the legacy preamble portion is modulated according to afirst modulation rate and includes information to allow a third-partystation to refrain from transmitting during a length of the wake-uppacket, and wherein the wake-up portion is modulated according to asecond modulation rate lower than the first modulation rate and includesinformation to wake-up a radio system of the other wirelesscommunication system; causing transmission of the legacy preamble usinga first transmit power level; and causing transmission of the wake-upportion using a second transmit power level higher than the firsttransmit power level by a predetermined amount such that an averagereceived power of the wake-up portion is equal to an average receivedpower of the legacy portion at the third-party station.
 13. The productof claim 12, wherein the legacy preamble portion includes a legacy shorttraining field (L-STF), a legacy long training field (L-LTF) and alegacy signal field (L-SIG), the L-SIG including length information forthe wake-up packet.
 14. The product of claim 12, wherein the firstmodulation rate includes binary phase shift keying (BPSK).
 15. Theproduct of claim 12, wherein the second modulation rate includesOn-Off-Keying (OOK), the wake-up portion including a series of 1's and0's.
 16. The product of claim 15, wherein the predetermined amount isbased on a ratio of the number of 1's to the number of 0's of thewake-up packet.
 17. The product of claim 16, wherein the predeterminedamount is 4.7 dB if the ratio is equal to 1/2, and is 6 dB if the ratiois equal to 1/3.
 18. The product of claim 12, wherein the predeterminedamount is 3 dB, and the average received power of the wake-up portionand of the legacy portion at the third-party station is −62 dBm.
 19. Theproduct of claim 12, wherein: the wake-up portion has a pulse bandwidthof 2.03 MHz or 4.06 MHz; a frequency spacing between tones in thewake-up portion is 78.125 kHz or 312.5 kHz; the wake-up portion includes26 tones or 13 tones per symbol; and the wake-up portion has a symbolduration of 4 μsec.
 20. The product of claim 12, wherein the operationsfurther include: amplifying higher modulation signals received from oneor more antennas, the higher modulation signals being at a modulationrate equal to or greater than the first modulation rate; providing anamplified version of the higher modulation signals to a radio integratedcircuit (radio IC) for further processing, and amplifying highermodulation signals provided by the radio IC for wireless transmission bythe one or more antennas; amplifying signals modulated according to thesecond modulation rate and provided by the radio IC for wirelesstransmission by the one or more antennas.
 21. A method to be performedby a wireless communication system, the method comprising: generating awake-up packet addressed to another wireless communication system, thewake-up packet including a legacy preamble portion and a wake-upportion, wherein the legacy preamble portion is modulated according to afirst modulation rate and includes information to allow a third-partystation to refrain from transmitting during a length of the wake-uppacket, and wherein the wake-up portion is modulated according to asecond modulation rate lower than the first modulation rate and includesinformation to wake-up a radio system of the other wirelesscommunication system; causing transmission of the legacy preamble usinga first transmit power level; and causing transmission of the wake-upportion using a second transmit power level higher than the firsttransmit power level by a predetermined amount such that an averagereceived power of the wake-up portion is equal to an average receivedpower of the legacy portion at the third-party station.
 22. The methodof claim 21, wherein the second modulation rate includes On-Off-Keying(OOK), the wake-up portion including a series of 1's and 0's, andwherein the predetermined amount is based on a ratio of the number of1's to the number of 0's of the wake-up packet.
 23. The method of claim22, wherein the predetermined amount is 4.7 dB if the ratio is equal to1/2, and is 6 dB if the ratio is equal to 1/3, and is 3 dB if the ratiois equal to
 1. 24. A wireless communication system including: means forgenerating a wake-up packet addressed to another wireless communicationsystem, the wake-up packet including a legacy preamble portion and awake-up portion, wherein the legacy preamble portion is modulatedaccording to a first modulation rate and includes information to allow athird-party station to refrain from transmitting during a length of thewake-up packet, and wherein the wake-up portion is modulated accordingto a second modulation rate lower than the first modulation rate andincludes information to wake-up a radio system of the other wirelesscommunication system; means for causing transmission of the legacypreamble using a first transmit power level; and means for causingtransmission of the wake-up portion using a second transmit power levelhigher than the first transmit power level by a predetermined amountsuch that an average received power of the wake-up portion is equal toan average received power of the legacy portion at the third-partystation.
 25. The wireless communication system of claim 24, wherein: thesecond modulation rate includes On-Off-Keying (OOK), the wake-up portionincluding a series of 1's and 0's; the predetermined amount is based ona ratio of the number of 1's to the number of 0's of the wake-up packet;the predetermined amount is 4.7 dB if the ratio is equal to 1/2, is 6 dBif the ratio is equal to 1/3; and is 3 dB if the ratio is equal to 1.